ESRC Festival of Social Science

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK’s national funding body for the social sciences. Every year the ESRC organises a Festival of Social Science in March which aims at informing a wide range of audiences about the important role the social sciences play in our lives.

For this year's ESRC Festival of Social Science the RAI’s Education Outreach Programme is organising an international photo contest and a series of outreach events investigating the connections between water, conservation and community. The activities are open to anyone regardless of previous background or knowledge of anthropology.

WATER CULTURES: DISCOVERING THE MEANING OF WATER THROUGH FILM (16th-18th March 2010)

Join us for a series of evening film screenings and discussions with anthropologists on water, conservation and community.

Dates: Tuesday 16th March, Wednesday 17th March and Thursday 18th March 2010.

Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm

Location: Upstairs screening room at the Royal Anthropological Institute, 50 Fitzroy St. London, W1T-5BT. Click here for directions.

Description: Water Cultures offers participants an opportunity to take a glimpse at the lives of people whose livelihoods are being threatened by fresh water scarcity, and who are drawing upon local knowledge to find solutions to their situations.

Format: Brief introduction about the ESRC Festival of Social Science, the film and the filmmaker, followed by the screening and Q&A session.

TUESDAY 16th MARCH 2010

6:30 pm screening followed by Q&A with André Singer

THE WATER GODDESS AND THE COMPUTER

Filmmakers: André Singer and Stephen Lansing

colour, 52 minutes, 1989

The film demonstrates how in Bali, development projects can threaten a carefully balanced ecological irrigation system that is maintained by temple priests. A biologist and an anthropologist look at the traditional irrigation system and show through the use of a computer how it works. They then present the computer system to the temple priests as an aid to explore the effect of changes in the traditional irrigation system.

SOLD OUT! We are fully booked for this event.

WEDNESDAY 17th March

6:30pm screening followed by Q&A with Hugh Brody

DROWNED OUT

Director: Franny Armstrong

colour, 72 mins, 2002

An Indian family decide to stay at home and drown rather than make way for the Narmada dam. Three choices: move to the slums in the city; accept a place at a resettlement site; or stay at home and drown. The people of Jalsindhi in central India must make a decision fast. In the next few weeks, their village will disappear underwater as the giant Narmada Dam fills. Bestselling author Arundhati Roy joins the fight against the dam and asks difficult questions such as: Will the water go to poor farmers or to rich industrialists? What happened to the 16 million people displaced by fifty years of dam building? Why should I care? Drowned Out follows the Jalsindhi villagers through hunger strikes, rallies, police brutality and a six year Supreme Court case. It stays with them as the dam fills and the river starts to rise.

SOLD OUT! We are fully booked for this event.

THURSDAY 18th March

6:30pm screening followed by Q&A with Joshka Wessel

LITTLE WATERFALL

Filmmaker: Joshka Wessel

52 mins, 2003

"Little Waterfall" is a small village on the edge of the desert in Northern Syria. Life in Little Waterfall is made possible by the use of a 1500-year old Byzantine water tunnel. However, decades of migration and family conflicts caused the tunnels' maintenance to be ignored. Mohammed Musa spent all his life in Little Waterfall. He does not have irrigation rights and he resents the way irrigation rights are sold by others. He undertakes a project to clean the tunnel in order to safeguard the water suply, and pursue his own interests.

Snacks and drinks will be provided. All three nights are free to attend, everyone is welcome. Please book your place in advance as spaces are limited.

SOLD OUT! We are fully booked for this event.

RAI's Main Event: THE MEANING OF WATER (20th March 2010)

Location: HMS President Boat moored on the Thames, Victoria Embankment, EC4-OHJ

Date: Saturday March 20th 10:30am - 4:00pm

Description: The RAI’s ‘Meaning of Water’ event focuses on the connections between water, conservation and community. The event aims to raise public awareness of research and development projects undertaken by anthropologists, social scientists and NGOs, in the UK and abroad. Through presentations, films and exhibitions, the event explores two main themes: 1) access, advocacy and fresh water management; and 2) sustainability and livelihoods. The event addresses questions such as: how are communities finding local solutions to water scarcity? In what ways can we decrease our water footprint? What are the repercussions of water being treated as a commodity rather than as common right? We hope that through this event participants will better understand our local and global interdependent relationship to water and foster collaboration between associated groups of individuals.

Programme:

10:00am-10:30am Registration

10:30am Welcome and Introduction

11:00am-12:50pm Presentations and Q&A on: Access, Advocacy and Fresh Water Management

12:50pm-1:50pm LUNCH BREAK with ethnographic films

1:50pm- 4:00pm Presentations and Q&A on: Water, Sustainability and Livelihoods

4:00pm Finale

A more detailed programme with a list of speakers will be posted here shortly.

The event is suitable for general public audience ages 16 and above.

There are still places available for this event. You can book your free place through our online booking form or by emailing Nafisa Fera, the RAI's Education Officer at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it